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Hasbro to Help Reformat Discovery Kids Channel

By Brian Stelter April 30, 2009 9:22 amApril 30, 2009 9:22 am

A scene from the “Transformers” movie. Hasbro will transform its array of toy brands into TV shows in a deal with Discovery Communications.

Heightening the competition among children’s TV channels, Hasbro and Discovery Communications announced a joint venture Thursday that will create a reformatted cable channel with programs based on G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and other toy brands.

The 13-year-old Discovery Kids Channel will be replaced by the new venture, which has yet to be named. For Hasbro, the Discovery deal represents a big step into television; the company is expected to produce animated, live-action and game shows.

Discovery Communications, under its chief executive, David Zaslav, has pushed for more profits from its portfolio of cable channels. In a deal similar to the one with Hasbro, Discovery has a joint venture with Oprah Winfrey to turn the Discovery Health Channel into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new network is expected to debut early next year.

Hasbro will pay $300 million for a 50 percent stake in the new network. The joint venture will “receive a minority interest in the U.S. version of Hasbro.com,” according to a press release from the companies.

The changes to Discovery Kids are expected to take place in late 2010. The channel, known for shows like “Bindi the Jungle Girl” and “Endurance,” is already available in about 60 million households.

Update: Brian Goldner, the chief executive of Hasbro, said the company would produce “new stories and new programs around a number of Hasbro brands that have been enjoyed by generations of consumers.” The company will pay $300 million for a 50 percent stake in the new network, and will form a team to produce programs.

Hasbro has already moved aggressively to feature its products in movies, including “Transformers” in 2007. Another “Transformers” film will be released in June, and films based on the Candy Land, Monopoly and Stretch Armstrong franchises are being developed. The company has also released dozens of video games in a partnership with Electronic Arts.

Executives said a television channel is another natural extension. On cable television, children’s programming is dominated by Cartoon Network, the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. “We saw a big opportunity in the kids’ space,” Mr. Zaslav said.

Some of Discovery Kids’ educational shows will continue to be shown on the new channel. But the programmers are expected to place an emphasis on entertaining the 14-and-under demographic, as well. Hasbro brands such as Romper Room, Trivial Pursuit and Tonka will inspire a mix of animated, live-action and game shows, the companies said.

Susan Linn, the director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, was critical of the new venture.

“This partnership represents a new low in children’s television, a network devoted to showing infomercials for Hasbro’s toys and games,” she said in a statement. “It will make a mockery of existing ad limits and the current prohibition of product placement in children’s television.”

While the television advertising market has been battered by the recession, the children’s marketplace has held up unusually well. “There’s a very limited amount of supply and still a strong demand for that demographic,” said David Levy, the president of sales for Turner Broadcasting, the owner of Cartoon Network, in an interview in March.

sounds great to me. they could do features on robotics.. it would tie in with Transformers and help prepare kids for a possible future career. and they could have G.I. Joe explain what is going on in Iraq and the leader of C.O.B.R.A could interview Dick Chaney

Just what we need, a reduction of educational programs and an increase in commercials- which is all this really is. I thought that discovery was one of the only networks left that promoted real mental stimulation- but it seems as though the economic downturns have affect judgement across the board.

Breeding more want in an age where children are taught to be consumers the second they watch tv is not going to solve anything except hasbro’s and discovery’s bottom line.

The Oprah Winfrey Network? The Hasbro Channel? YEs, cable companies need to make money. So, what does Discovery come up with? A 24 hour talk channel and a 24 hour talk/infomercial channel, aimed at kids and packaged to look like an alternative to Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Let’s face, the cable channels are becoming more of a wasteland everyday. With more than a third of them running 6 – 8 hour blocks of “Law & Order”, “CSI”, etc. If they are not repeating shows over and over (“Discovery Kids” is a real offender of this practice), they are running infomercials..

Imagine a “Barbie” soap opera or talking Tonka trucks as transformers; etc. Yes, commercial marketing has hit a new low. The Discovery Networks have decided that money is more important than education. Their TLC channels is much less learning, and more reality programming. The Discovery Channel is heading in a similar direction. Now an all talk and a poor excuse to a children’s entertainment channel.

Considering the thousands of hours of programming that has been produced over the past 60 years of television; one would think that there would be more diverse programming available. Yet, now they come up with a kid oriented channel designed to market toys to children under the guise of children’s entertainment. Yes, the networks did (some still do) this with kid cereals and toys on Saturday mornings; but, not a 24×7 channel that is so blatant in its intent. Should we now expect The Mattel Channel, The Parker-Brothers Channel, etc. in our future?

Thanks, but no thanks Discovery Kids. We will never watch this garbage. My kids deserve better than your Hasbro program-length commercials. Call your “big opportunity” exactly what it is: pure commercial exploitation of the next generation.

all I can say is wow………This channel is supposed to be generally about science and learning but now it teach them the joy of watching crappy shows with loads of commercials that have nothing to do with “Discovery” at all. I mean seriously who whats to watch a my little pony show or a candy land movie? now thats just plain sad.